Waken · Canonical Translation & Exposition · 覺 · 漢傳經論譯注與義疏
Friday, October 2, 2026 · Autumn Equinox
Today’s passage Madhyamaka › Twelve Gate Treatise › Examination of an Existing or Nonexisting Effect
復次，諸法不生。何以故？先有則不生，先無亦不生，有無亦不生，誰當有生者？若果因中先有則不應生，先無亦不應生，先有無亦不應生。何以故？若果因中先有而生，是則無窮。如果先未生而生者，今生已復應更生。何以故？因中常有故。
EssenceOne verse asks only a single question: “Who, then, could be something that arises?” The questioner has already exhausted the answers—previously existent, previously nonexistent, or both existent and nonexistent. Then it “is already existent and accomplished—what use is further arising?” Moreover, if it always exists in the cause and remains after arising, “the process is endless.” You revise the claim and say what has arisen does not arise again. The author answers: “Within this there is no coherent principle of arising.” The author asks for its mark: “By what mark do you know and say that a jar already exists in the clay?” There is no mark of jar, nor …
Twelve Gate Treatise · Examination of an Existing or Nonexisting Effect · T1568 · Shi Huijing, essence-note1206 essence-notes · 9 axes open · 32 Han works in the canon · Theravāda lane in parallel · one is set here each day · yesterday’s stays readable on its unit page
Of all offerings, the offering of the Dharma is highest. Everything here may be taken under its open licence — reposted, translated, taught again. To pass four lines of it to one person outweighs worlds of treasure. Do not count whose merit it is; hold to no form, let the Dharma move, and wherever you stand is made fairer by it.
Last seasonSummer 2026
The text stays. The distance changes.經文不動，是距離在變。
How Waken reads · today’s passageMove from the original into plain language and into the heart of the matter. The three registers below are today’s passage — the same unit the card above draws from.
復次，諸法不生。何以故？先有則不生，先無亦不生，有無亦不生，誰當有生者？若果因中先有則不應生，先無亦不應生，先有無亦不應生。何以故？若果因中先有而生，是則無窮。如果先未生而生者，今生已復應更生。何以故？因中常有故。
Open the full text →Composed by Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva and translated by the Tripiṭaka master Kumārajīva of Later Qin: Twelve Gate Treatise, fascicle one, “Examination of an Existing or Nonexisting Effect, Gate Two,” Taishō T30n1568. A marker such as 〔T30 …〕 at the start of a paragraph is a Taishō page–column–line anchor. 〔T30 0160b17〕 Next, every dharma is unarisen. Why?
Read in plain language →One verse asks only a single question: “Who, then, could be something that arises?” The questioner has already exhausted the answers—previously existent, previously nonexistent, or both existent and nonexistent. Then it “is already existent and accomplished—what use is further arising?” Moreover, if it always exists in the cause and remains after arising, “the process is endless.” You revise the claim and say what has arisen does not arise again. The author answers: “Within this there is no coherent principle of arising.” The author asks for its mark: “By what mark do you know and say that a jar already exists in the clay?” There is no mark of jar, nor …
Enter the heart of it →Today’s passage: Twelve Gate Treatise · Examination of an Existing or Nonexisting Effect · T1568
Begin where you are.從你所在處開始。
Where to beginEnter by school.依宗而入。
The schoolsFour crafts, one canon.四藝一藏。
The method覺 Waken · Canonical Translation & Exposition
Written and translated by Shi Huijing, released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; AI tools are research and engineering collaborators, not co-authors. Details on the methodology page.
Autumn 2026